Hi! I’m currently a senior living in New Jersey. I’m still waiting to hear back from most of my colleges in March, but I recently got accepted into SUNY Binghamton (with $8,000 a year merit scholarship) and the university of Delaware honors program (scholarship info hasn’t come out yet, but I assume I might get some money). I’m trying to figure out what I would choose if it was down between these two! I’m going for neuroscience and plan to either go on to medical school or get a PhD. Thanks!!!
@neuroscience27 Both of these two universities are really good (within the top 100 universities in the nation) with solid pre-medical tract courses. I know Binghamton has a neuroscience multidisciplinary undergraduate program and a freshman immersion research program. Medical schools don’t care where you go as long as you go to an accredited reputable university, which these two definitely are. Medical school care about how high your gpa is, particularly the pre-med courses, your MCAT score, your related medical-related experience (showing a demonstrated interest in the field). Pick the school that is the least expensive and visit both universities and consider the fit/feel of each well. It may hit you upon visiting each that you feel one is definitely your place. But remember also that you will need to save money (or at least have the least amount of debt) before you go to medical school. Delaware is a lot more expensive ($45,000 per year for tuition and room/board) than Binghamton so you will need to see how much merit aid and/or need-based aid you receive from Delaware.
If you plan on going to medical school, consider attending Rutgers University. It will save you a ton of money in advance. It doesn’t have to be Rutgers but at least see what other universities in New Jersey you are interested into.
I was I was considering Rutgers but the deadline to apply has already passed. My parents don’t really like any of the NJ schools and they don’t mind paying for out of state schools. The cost of a private school might just too much.
There are rolling admissions at Rutgers. Just because the deadline is passed doesn’t mean they still accept applications. They have a deadline because after the deadline it gets harder to get in.
Price-wise, Binghamton OOS is comparable to Rutgers in state, and with your scholarship it’s probably less.
The schools are very different. Binghamton is a lot of ivy rejects or wanna bes. Academically it’s very intense. It’s mostly NY kids. There is no football team and sports are unimportant. I’m not as familiar with UDel but my impression is it draws from more states, has a bit more school spirit, and it isn’t as much of a pressure cooker as Binghamton. You should visit both and see where you feel more comfortable. You might want to reach out to the pre med advisors at both schools and ask about their admit rates.
By us… Binghamton attracts a certain niche of kids. It attracts smart students… but not those at the very top of the class. Kids who don’t get into Columbia or Penn generally don’t attend Binghamton… they attend Emory ( for example). Rather… Kids by us attending Bing are those whose parents won’t pay for schools like Boston University… don’t qualify for enough FA to Emory… Or they don’t get enough merit from schools like Ohio State or UConn etc that can bring the cost down to SUNY. Binghamton is often used as a safety by top top students who have no intention of going. They get into the scholars program during the EA round and do not attend. Of course there are always exceptions- there are top students at Bing who would get FA at Cornell but they are not familiar with the process, and there are kids who want to stay local and don’t see any reason to apply elsewhere.
Delaware is a great school… it attracts kids who are overall a bit weaker than Binghamton. Kids in our town who get rejected from Binghamton often get accepted to Delaware.
If you are looking to get into a funded Phd program, undergraduate research will be important. When we looked at Binghamton we were told that research was available, but we were not able to find anybody who was involved in it. After asking several family members and friends, who also asked their friends… we stopped looking. I am sure there are undergrads involved in research… but finding them was difficult.
Binghamton and Delaware are both very good schools, but I do agree that there are differences. It’s impt to do your research.
U Delaware is NOT more expensive than Binghamton if you are an out of state nj resident, they are about the same price when it comes to total cost of attending (about 45k) so both are much more expensive than Rutgers which runs about 30k. U Delaware offers a lot of merit $ to out of State students depending on your SAT and GPA. If U Delaware and Binghamton are close in price, then hands down U Del is the place you should go. U Del is in a much nicer area, it has a more national reputation than Binghamton and the weather is better. Rutgers is your choice if $$ is the major concern because neither Binghamton or UDel will match Rutgers price. Our older son graduated from Rutgers but found the campus in New Brunswick time consuming to navigate. Your best option instate presently is TCNJ. Our middle kid has decided to attend The College of NJ after much debate to go private or to an out of state public. A compelling case can also be made for Rowan, but only if your major is engineering. We visited Binghamton, UDel as well as several privates. We found UDel to be a much better fit for a jersey kid than in the middle of nowhere up at Binghamton. Just my opinion, but as a primary care physician for the past 25 years, I do not recommend neuroscience for an undergrad major heading into medical school. My recommendation would be to switch to a major that provides opportunity in the event you change your mind about graduate school, such as mathematics w a bio minor or biomed engineering for example. Neuroscience will offer you little to no value if you decide not to go to med school. If you decide against med school but seek a PhD in neuroscience, you’ll be severely limited in the number of job prospects offering a salary justifying the expense of obtaining the PhD. The UDel vs Binghamton vs Penn State vs Private college vs instate NJ school debate is a common one among my physician colleagues as we have started to send our kids away to school. I fall in the growing camp of those who believe limiting debt and choosing an undergrad major with real value are prudent choices as opposed to drowning in debt to go to expensive private colleges or out of state publics. If your kid is dedicated, they will succeed anywhere and it’s our responsibility to influence them in making good choices, such as being wise in picking a major and limiting debt. Bottom line, my free advice to you is 1. Consider changing majors, 2. Apply to instate TCNJ or Rutgers which give you the biggest bang for the buck or 3. If you simply insist on going out of State, go UDel over Binghamton—— for a lot of reasons
My daughter was accepted into the honors program at UDel last year. She was given a $10.000/yr scholarship if that information helps. She ended up at TCNJ in their honors program and is very happy with her decision. She was given a $5,000/yr scholarship.
Good choice. That 5k makes Tcnj much less expensive than UDel even factoring in UDel 10k scholarship.
Bump